ODD MAN IN

By Celia Cohen
Grapevine Political Writer

With one screaming exception, the trio of state
representatives who decided late not to run for
re-election have cleared their names from the ballot.

Bob Gilligan, the Democratic speaker? Gilligan told
the House of Representatives on Saturday evening, hours
before the 2012 session ended, he was leaving after 40
years, and by Monday morning he was an ex-candidate with
the speed of a kid let out of detention.

Terry Schooley, the Democratic representative from
Newark? She announced her decision to the other House
members in early June and officially withdrew within two
weeks.

This is odd. Bennett is still listed as a candidate,
even though he is the only one with the obvious reason
not to run. A second arrest within two years for drunken
driving, this one involving a hit-and-run encounter with
a parked police car, can do that.

Bennett, a two-term representative, had filed for
re-election in February. He was arrested in April,
secluded himself for treatment, and returned to the
legislature on June 5 to apologize publicly and take
himself out of the running.

Before Schooley bowed out. Before Gilligan did.

More than a month has passed since Bennett spoke. The
calendar is bearing down upon the deadline for
candidates to withdraw without forfeiting their filing
fees on July 13, and he still has taken no action to
leave the field and reclaim his fee of $872.

This, even though the House very clearly reminded
Bennett he was supposed to be going by giving him the
same commemorative silver plate that all the retiring
representatives get. Under the circumstances, it was a
gracious thing to do.

In case Bennett still did not get the message, the
House Ethics Committee met during the last night of the
legislature to review a complaint filed against him by
Pete Schwartzkopf, the Democratic majority leader who
chairs the committee.

The committee had a range of options it could
recommend to the entire chamber -- from doing nothing to
censuring Bennett to expelling him. It decided to defer
action, because its jurisdiction only lasts until
Election Day, when a new Delaware General Assembly is
elected, and at least this way it could still police the
situation.

"My take on this is, he apologized to the chamber, he
apologized to the constituents of his district, and he
said he was stepping down," Schwartzkopf said Saturday.

"We can't punish him anymore than what he has done to
himself. He has in effect expelled himself for the next
two years, which is more than we could do to him. We're
still here if he backtracks on anything he said."

As Bennett has continued to drag out his departure,
there have been rumblings he has been looking around for
a friendly Democratic candidate, someone who would be
willing to be elected as a placeholder and step aside
for him when the seat is up again in two years. This
looks like remorse with its fingers crossed.

Bennett could not be found to comment.

The race in the 32nd Representative District already
has attracted four active candidates, two Democratic and
two Republican, who came forward after Bennett's arrest,
and the field is not necessarily set with the filing
deadline still days away on Tuesday at noon.

The voter registration favors the Democrats, but
before Bennett, the district was represented by Donna
Stone, a Republican representative for 14 years.

The wait for Bennett goes on. "He's got to get off
the ballot," Schwartzkopf said Thursday.

Paging Brad Bennett. The candidates' withdrawal form
is prominently available on the Web page of the Kent
County elections department, a mouse click away.